Comfort
by MovieBuffStarlet
Summary: Alex and Conner comfort each other a few weeks after their father's death, late one night during a thunder storm. Story written for Chris Colfer's children's fantasy book, "The Land of Stories". Characters featured include the twins Alex and Conner Bailey, and their mother briefly.


_A/N: I tried to copy the simplistic, innocent writing style that Chris Colfer used for his adorable little book, and probably failed miserably. :P I chose to focus on real world they were living in before their grandmother's magical book came into their possession, because I'm fascinated by their backstory and the first four chapters of the book were the most interesting to me. Plus, I don't have the fantastical imagination needed in order to dive into the fairy tale world. I prefer to focus on reality. This story takes place a few weeks after their father's death and after their 11__th__ birthday, and roughly one year before the events in TLOS takes place. Kudos to Chris Colfer for making his literary debut with such a cute little novel! _

For the hundredth time that night, Conner cringed under the covers as another crackle-boom noise produced by thunder vibrated through the house, nearly rattling his teeth in the process.

"Just _shut up_ already!" Conner's muffled voice sounded from under the covers. He would like to think that he yelled at the thunder/lightning gods who were keeping him up all night, but in reality, he really whimpered more than shouted.

He was 11 years old, for God's sake! He wasn't a baby! But, Conner could not help himself. He and his twin sister Alex have always hated thunder storms.

_Alex…_

Conner wondered if she was lucky enough to get to sleep through all of this racket. If she was already in la-la land, he'd hate to wake her up. But then again, she might be suffering through this storm just as he was…petrified.

Another crack of thunder jolted him from his thoughts and Conner bolted upright and threw off the covers. He swung his legs over the side of his bed and took off down the hall towards his sister's room as fast as his legs would carry him. He felt as if he was in a horror movie as he ran.

_Screw this. If I am not going to be able to sleep tonight, then neither is she! _

Moments before, Alex was curled into a ball under her covers, willing herself to shrink into her mattress as much as she was able to. She shivered as she tried to reason with herself about her irrational fear of thunder storms.

_Calm down, Alex. The electrical currents known as lightning, and their resulting sonic booms known as thunder, are simply naturally occurring phenomenon's that have their place within nature. There is nothing to be afraid of. Lots of wonderful things occur in nature too, such as flowers. You are safely indoors and the lightning cannot hurt….YIKES!_

Alex's thought process was shattered (as well as her eardrums, just about) as another rumble of thunder assaulted her sensibilities. And, right on the heels of that, the sound of her brother bursting into her bedroom nearly gave her a heart attack. But she didn't turn around, not yet. She fought the urge to grin to herself as she heard her brother breathing heavily. She could feel his eyes boring into her back.

"Alex?" Conner whispered. "Pssst? Are you awake?"

Alex slowly rolled over to face him, blinking at his frame in the doorway.

"Yes, Conner?" She asked him pleasantly. "Did you need something?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Conner shrugged, trying to act as casual as possible. "I was just…checking to make sure you weren't scared by the thunderstorm."

Alex couldn't hide her smile. She was grateful for the company now, but could also see right through his lie. It was amusing.

"Thank you for your concern," Alex started "But I'm quite alright. I haven't been scared of thunderstorms since I was six."

Alex felt guilty for lying, but she felt embarrassed by her phobia. She was 11…she wondered if she was ever going to get over this fear of hers. Maybe saying that she was feeling brave would make it so.

"Oh…" Conner faltered. He shifted his weight from foot to foot. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, a sheepish expression on his face. "Well, that's good, I guess…"

A bright flash of lightning through Alex's window startled the twins, causing them to suck in their breath. Seconds later, a loud crash of thunder sounded, making them both jump. Alex squealed and Conner let out a startled yelp.

"I lied!" Alex squeaked her confession.

"So did I!" Conner admitted before diving into bed with her.

The twins huddled together underneath the covers, tense and shivering as the storm continued to rage outside. They lay there in silence for a few moments, listening to the wind and the rain and it's assault on her bedroom window.

"Whenever a storm gets really severe like this…" Alex confessed quietly "I sometimes like to fantasize that I'm Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, and that a tornado has come to take me away to The Emerald City."

"Huh. Interesting. Whenever a storm gets really severe like this, I dread that a hailstorm will follow and end up shattering all of our windows." Conner deadpanned.

"I'm serious, Conner." Alex scolded, looking pleadingly into the face of her mirror image (albeit in a male and more obnoxious form). "Don't you ever wish…that you could just…I don't know. Take a walk and never return?"

"What do you mean?" Conner was curious, earing on the side of caution. Did he want to know what she meant? "I sometimes dream of ditching school for the day and hanging out in the local park, I guess."

"I mean…that one of these days, I just want to go out for a walk. And I want to just keep walking. I want to leave everything behind so badly sometimes. This ugly rental house, the kids at school, this town, this _life_. I want to leave behind memories of Daddy most of all." Alex's voice grew very quiet as she talked, barely above a whisper.

Conner sucked in a breath in order to steel himself as she made her confession. He was afraid she'd say something like this. It was no secret that the Bailey twins, their mother, and their grandmother were having a difficult and painful adjusting period in the weeks following Mr Bailey's fatal car accident. But while Conner at least had a few friends whom he could lean on, he knew Alex had no one to talk to, besides family, of course. Alex threw herself into her homework more than ever in order to deal with the pain and loneliness, but he could clearly see and feel that she was hurting and it truly hurt him to hear her say that she wanted to run away.

"You can't do that…" Conner shook his head.

"Why not?" Alex challenged him, her voice growing hoarse with emotion.

"Because I'd miss you too much." Conner blurted out before he could stop himself. He could feel himself blush so brightly when he caught the stunned and very pleased look on Alex's face, that he was certain his freckles were glowing in the dark. He hated to be seen as sappy and emotional.

"Really?" Alex tucked a stand of strawberry blonde hair behind her ear and she shifted to get more comfortable. She knew he really cared for her, and she for him…but it was still nice to hear it once in a while.

"Yeah." Conner shrugged. It was the truth, wasn't it? No bother trying to deny it. "And, you know, mom and grandma would be worried sick as well…"

"I know it makes me selfish, but I just can't help it. I even dream about it sometimes." Alex had a slight waver to her voice.

Conner pondered this over for a moment. He truly did not know how he would handle himself if he were to wake up one morning to find out that his twin sister had run away. It pained him to even think about it.

"Alex…." He spoke softly and with understanding. "I know how you feel sometimes. And I think I know what this is about. But the thing is, it doesn't matter where you go…you can't run away from memories. Even if your settings change, you can't outrun the memories of Dad…the only way to feel better about the situation is to actually deal with it, rather than trying to avoid it."

Alex's blue-green eyes widened at her brother. When he wanted to, he could come across as the smartest kid she'd ever seen…besides herself, of course. It was nice to see him drop the class clown act once in a while. She was so proud of how mature he sounded right now.

"I think you're right." She admitted, sighing. "But…I don't know. I thought we were dealing with Daddy's death quite well overall…"

"Maybe. But think about it…when is the last time that you and I have ever, you know, cried over him? Aside from the funeral, I mean?" Conner asked.

"Never." Alex answered, a painful lump in her throat forming. "I haven't cried since the funeral. I've felt too numb to do so. Kind of like…like we're living in a nightmare, and we've just got to wake up from it and then everything will be how it used to be."

"I haven't either." Conner admitted, feeling slightly guilty. He loved his Dad, obviously…but he too had felt the numbing effect of shock freezing over his initial grief. He felt bad about it…but it didn't mean that he didn't care less. And besides, boys don't cry, right? He felt like he had to remain strong and full of humor in order to deal with the situation.

"I don't know if I can…" Alex whispered. "I just feel so numb…"

"So, you're emotionally constipated?" Conner smirked at his sister.

"_No_…" Alex sighed. "I'm afraid that if I start crying, I'll never stop."

"But if you don't deal with this….if _we_ don't deal with this, the pain is only going to get worse. I think it will make us feel better." Conner spoke truthfully. "We know Mom has cried like crazy over Dad, so why can't we?" Conner was exhausted. He wanted to let down his walls and stop being strong, for once. And he could tell Alex needed this just as much as he did.

"You're right." Alex agreed quietly, after some hesitation.

The Bailey twins stared at one another in silence for a few moments. Not sure how to go about letting go of their emotions.

"So, um…" Conner began awkwardly. "Who should go first?" He would never make it as a grief counselor.

"Oh, _Conner_…" Alex laughed, on the verge of hysteria. What he said wasn't even that funny, but she could feel herself giggling uncontrollably at the awkwardness of this situation. Before she knew it, those laughs turned to half sobs and her eyes began watering at the unfairness of their lives at the moment. And then finally, Alex just found herself full out crying. There was no judgment or mockery from Conner, only tender understanding as he pulled her close to him.

"It hurts so much, Conner…" Alex gasped between painful sobs that racked her body. She buried her face in his neck.

"I know, I know…." Conner's voice grew husky with emotion as tears began spilling out of his own eyes. He stroked her hair soothingly. "It's going to be okay. Just let it out…"

Alex's face crumpled at his soothing tone, and she began crying even harder. She felt like she couldn't breathe. She wanted to say more about how she was feeling, but she couldn't possibly get enough air into her lungs in order to speak. Through her own misery and grief, she felt Conner's hold on her tighten a little bit. She could feel him shaking against her as harsh, almost uncontrollable sobs racked his body, too. Alex was a little taken aback, but also so proud of her brother. For once, he wasn't deflecting a difficult situation with humor. He was just allowing himself to feel honestly and truthfully, right along with her.

"Are you okay?" Alex managed to stammer out between hiccups, her breath hitching.

Conner shook his head as tears continued to stream down his face, embarrassed by being unable to stop crying. His shoulders shook with his sobs. "N-no. I'm not. But I think I will be."

The twins huddled together as they cried some more, the raging storm outside was completely forgotten as they lost themselves in their emotions. After a few moments, they finally began to come down from the point of hysteria. Alex was slowly beginning to catch her breath again as Conner began to slowly gain a hold on his emotions.

"Whew!" Conner gasped, slightly dazed. "I don't think I've ever cried that hard in my entire life."

"Neither have I." Alex shook her head. "Thank you, Conner. I actually do feel a lot better now. Thank you for being so supportive."

"Don't mention it." Conner shrugged, a sheepish grin on his face. "Seriously, don't ever mention this. If the guys at school ever find out I spent my Friday night cuddling with my sister and crying with her in her bed like a baby, they'd have a field day."

Alex smirked, playing dumb. "Don't mention what?"

Conner smiled at her. They had an understanding.

The twins lay there for a few moments, silent and oddly relaxed after the little bout of emotions they had just had. They weren't even afraid of the storm anymore.

"We need to have emotional diarrhea more often." Conner piped up, breaking the silence with a smirk on his face.

Alex snorted at this, an unpleasant rattling sound coming from her sinuses.

"Gross!" Conner laughed, handing her a tissue.

"Well, don't make me laugh then!" Alex scolded, still giggling at his joke. She swatted him playfully before blowing her nose. "Will you stay with me tonight?"

"Of course." Conner said simply. He was hoping she would ask that. Within a few minutes, the twins fell into a peaceful sleep, finding comfort in each other's presence.

Early that Saturday morning, their mother was in for the sweetest shock of her life. Opening her daughter's door to check on her, she found both of her twins sleeping together in the same bed, cuddled together in the same way that they used to do when they were little kids. It was cute, and oddly comforting. She smiled fondly, taking a picture with her camera. It was just too adorable to ignore. She was sure her late husband would get a kick out of it if he was still here…

Plus, it would make great blackmail material in order to get Conner motivated into doing his homework.

THE END


End file.
